COVID-19 'Liberate' Groups Are the Same Ones Pushing Climate Denial - 2020-04-20

COVID-19 'Liberate' Groups Are the Same Ones Pushing Climate Denial April 20, 2020, Steve Horn, Desmog

---

First came a denial that it was a problem at all, then a denial of its depth and gravity. Later came an acceptance of the problem but the stance that responding is too economically costly. And as with the climate crisis, this is no accident. The well-funded machinery that sowed doubt about climate is now sowing seeds of doubt over the economic and public health response to COVID-19.

DeSmog previously reported that many conservative groups and individuals who for years downplayed the gravity of the climate crisis did the same as the coronavirus outbreak worsened around the world and eventually made its way into the United States.

Now, weeks into that public health crisis — and with more than three-quarters of a million cases and over 41,000 deaths in the U.S. — groups nationwide are clamoring for an early end to stay-at-home orders and a reopening of state economies. Many of those same groups, a DeSmog investigation shows, are also part of what sociologist Robert Brulle has called the climate change countermovement and what U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) has coined the "web of denial."

Wikipedia cite:

{{cite news | first = Steve | last = Horn | title = COVID-19 'Liberate' Groups Are the Same Ones Pushing Climate Denial | url = https://www.desmogblog.com/2020/04/20/covid-19-liberate-conservative-groups-climate-denial | work = Desmog | date = April 20, 2020 | accessdate = April 25, 2020 }}